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Broadcast Top of Hour News from Your Radio Station

Broadcast a hosted news feed, on the hour, to all your listeners automatically without the need for scheduling events, replacing files, or going live yourself.

James Brown

by James Brown in Production

Last updated 19.07.2024

Broadcast Top Of Hour News From Your Radio Station Header

Keep your listeners informed about what's going on in the world with top of hour news. Broadcasting on the hour, every hour, you can now automatically set your favourite news source without the need of scheduling events or replacing files.

Please note that the top of hour news feature is only available on the Plus & Premium plans.. Upgrade anytime in your Radio.co Account > Settings > Billing, then choose your ideal plan.

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Top of Hour News Setup

Access top of hour news in your Radio.co Account > Media > News where you will be able to build your personalised bulletin. There are two main sections to creating the bulletin: the Bulletin Builder and the Bulletin Settings.

Image is a screenshot from the Radio.co dashboard, showing the News Bulletin Builder feature.

Creating a News Bulletin

In the Bulletin Builder section, choose your introduction, news source, backing audio, and outro from your media library.

1. Intro & Outro

Select your intro and outro tracks from your media library by selecting either boxes to the sides, then choose the tracks to book-end your news bulletin. The maximum file length is 60 seconds. We recommend a short jingle which announces your station name and the fact the news is starting.

Image is a screenshot from the Radio.co dashboard, showing the Outro options to play after a new bulletin.

2. News Source

Enter the URL of the news source in the field displayed. Use places like Feature Story News (subscription service). Once the URL has been entered, test the feed so confirm it works as expected.

Image is a screenshot from the Radio.co dashboard showing where to add a News Source link.

Ensure you have permission from the news provider before saving the source. Please note, the new source URL must to be in MP3 format.

3. Background Audio

Select the track you'd like to choose as background audio by searching tracks in your media library. Once happy, save all your changes.

Image is a screenshot from the Radio.co dashboard showing the settings window for adding background audio to news bulletins.

Bulletin Settings

In the Bulletin Settings, choose the frequency and metadata for your top of hour news.

Image is a screenshot from the Radio.co dashboard showing the bulletin settings window.

Change your top of hour news frequency next to Deliver News. Choose whether you want news to be delivered every hour or daily. If you choose every hour, two more drop down menu's will appear. Here, you can select what hours the news bulletin is broadcast.

1. When to Broadcast Top of Hour News

Image is a screenshot from the Radio.co dashboard showing the frequency options for news bulletins.

2. What Days to Broadcast

Then choose which days you want the top of hour news to broadcast.

Image is a screenshot from the Radio.co dashboard showing the days of the week settings for news bulletins.

3. Title & Artist Displayed on Your Station

Finally, add the title and artist for the bulletin. For example, if using a Sky News bulletin you might use:

  • Title: News Update
  • Artist: Sky News
Image is a screenshot from the Radio.co dashboard showing the metadata settings window for news bulletins.

Once you're happy with everything, click 'Save and Enable' in the bottom right corner to save all your changes.

If you're not with Radio.co and you would like to test out the top of hour news bulletin tool, then signup today with a 7-day free trial. Access incredibly useful features like custom track editor, voice tracking, record talk shows from different locations, dedicated mobile apps, and loads more!

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